Discussions on Discussions: Teachers talking to Teachers to Improve Literature Circles
We believe the opportunity to discuss texts improves our students' comprehension and engagement. Well then the same must be true for adults! To improve our understanding and commitment to literature circles we created the opportunity to discuss our practice. Once a month we have met to share our challenges, successes, and "Aha moments". We invite you to join our conversation, share your successes, ask questions, and learn together as a larger group. Whether you have been doing literature circles for a long time or are considering starting them, we would love to have your voice included.
Possible prompts/Jumping off points:
- finding time in curriculum?
- how much teacher input/direction?
- videos - where would you go from here?
- how do you get your own support group?
We liked that you noted our videos and it made us think more about how to use them to forward our study. Please see our notes below for our goals for next meeting.
We appreciate the offer of connecting with an NLU professor but feel comfortable with our group right now.
We appreciate also the offer for additional time and think we will take advantage of that in preparation for the symposium to synthesize our notes and experiences.
Sarah is on the language arts committee! Lauren went to a conference on the Common Core and felt that a lot of what we are doing connects to it! Great!
Thanks!
Jen, Lauren and Sarah
Notes 10/24/11
- Lauren introduced the idea of taking videos of the discussions at different parts of the year as a record of the progress throughout the year. She hopes to do one soon!
- Let's commit to doing the videoing for each other. Shooting for taping by Nov. 11th. Even if it is a lesson related to strategies and not necessarily a student led discussion. It would be a great way to document the process of what is going on in each classroom. Sharing the videos with the kids will bring them more into the process. Write a narrative to accompany the video to describe the point in time. - Progression in Lauren's room: She has been doing partner discussions - starting with post-its and moving into a more reader response format with small groups reading the same book together - more teacher directed. Would like to move into some kind of fishbowl model to show the less teacher-directed structure.
- Progression in Sarah's room: She went back to using roles to provide some organizational structure. Having something to prepare made them feel calmer before meeting than just post-its. Connection to sportsmanship - they got it! Next step - she is ready to have different books going on. Having more openness on choice of prep - picking a role of their choice to prepare before going to discussion.
- Progression in Jen's room: She is still focusing on decoding skills, attention to punctuation, etc. Not ready to focus heavily on comprehension and student led discussions. Working on social cooperative skills - not necessarily connected to lit discussions. - The importance of talking with the kids about why we meet in lit circles.
- Symposium idea: Maybe a real visual of the developmental arc - basic - beginning, middle, and end. Have others share their arcs. Also what's working and what's not working.
- For next meeting on 11/28: Have video and narrative set. Also some quotes from kids about whatever stage you are in right now.
Dear The Group,
We liked that you noted our videos and it made us think more about how to use them to forward our study. Please see our notes below for our goals for next meeting.
We appreciate the offer of connecting with an NLU professor but feel comfortable with our group right now.
We appreciate also the offer for additional time and think we will take advantage of that in preparation for the symposium to synthesize our notes and experiences.
Sarah is on the language arts committee! Lauren went to a conference on the Common Core and felt that a lot of what we are doing connects to it! Great!
Thanks!
Dear Lit Based Assessment Group,
We enjoyed reading your wiki and watching the videos. The videos are an informative and useful tool. Hearing kids talk about literature is so exciting and a powerful tool for assessment. Your Wiki updates are such an important record of your work and progress. It sounded like attending the Action Research Forum was useful and affirmed that you are working to collect valid data.
Your acquisition of materials and your entry on 9/30, made us think that a common language across the grades would be helpful. We look forward to you trying and developing these strategies and catch phrases i.e “glows” and “grows” and “thick” “thin” and sharing with us all!
The possibilities are endless for the symposium. Everything you listed seems like a viable and powerful sharing. Of course the videos of students would be totally authentic and useful. A key piece of your work is the developmental arc that you are all working on. That piece will have great impact on our curriculum map and the language arts curriculum review at Baker this year. Are any of you on that committee?
Your work is very interesting and we can’t wait to hear the results. There are some resources we wanted to point out if you haven’t thought about them already. NLU has a fantastic reading and language dept. Camille Blachowicz (retired but friend of Baker), Smokey Daniels or any of Lauren’s professors from her program. Not that you need anyone to legitimize your thinking and work, just having a conversation could make your work richer. Your work makes us think of the title to your new book….”Beyond the Literature Circle Jobs” because you are taking the literature discussion and advancing the process. We get excited thinking about it!
Keep up the great work. The Group
Inquiry Group Update
Date: 9/30/11 - also see notes below from our work time
Names: Lauren Thomas, Sarah Milo, Jen Levy, Mary McNeal
Primary contact person: Sarah Milo
Statement summarizing focus: We are looking at how we develop, document and assess student led lit discussions.
Where are you individually?
Lauren plans on doing two strategies – connections and questions and then introducing partner reading and how to get it beyond. Actually modeling it first.
Sarah – whole class doing a novel but meeting in small groups by reading speed. Wondering about 3 in a group – harder to have discussions. 4-5 is a good size for a group. Groups choose a goal page based on amount of time given. Use post-its and then share – loose structure. Teachers float. Independent reflection/assessment of work.
Jen – Not started yet – will introduce all strategies and lots of modeling before starting student groups
Mary - beginning to learn about what this all means and what working as a team looks like!
Where are you as a group?
Sharing experiences and early implementation
Starting to discuss an end goal
Possibilities for April symposium contribution: Poster session, presentation, workshop, panel, discussion facilitator, show video of classroom/discussion, ask students to participate in panel, show artifacts from class, lead activity. These are some ideas, but remember that there are many other possibilities. Feel free to think outside the box!
Where are you going individually? (Please include initial idea for the symposium in April):
Lauren - Looking to start student lit discussions in early November. Will not be participating in the actual symposium but will be contributing to the process.
Sarah - Continue making graphic organizers for reflections and continuing to explore the process that she "jumped into" at the start of the year
Jen - Thinking about how/when to introduce discussions in my classroom - most of focus is on the strategies right now
Mary - Absorbing!
Where are you going as a group? (Please include initial idea for the symposium in April):
Looking at developmental arc for student led discussions - we have a goal for the next meeting to share what we are looking for at the end of the year in our classrooms.
Collecting artifacts that will help with the developmental arc
Continuing to document our process in our individual classrooms
Keep an ongoing list of resources used
Keep an ongoing list of pitfalls
Symposium Ideas
- Videos of kids in action
- Poster session of our developmental arc and record of our resources and when we used them
- Sharing our experiencing and hearing from others - group sharing but in structured way - resources, pitfalls, successes, developmental arc, individuality
Student Led Discussions
9/30/11
Where are we now in our classes?
Creating an atmosphere/community/culture of conversation about books in our rooms – not just teachers asking questions of kids – during read-alouds!
Comprehension strategies - using the Toolkit or Reading for Meaning or Interactive Read-Alouds – to introduce/review strategies
Lauren plans on doing two strategies – connections and questions and then introducing partner reading and how to get it beyond. Actually modeling it first.
Sarah – whole class doing a novel but meeting in small groups by reading speed. Wondering about 3 in a group – harder to have discussions. 4-5 is a good size for a group. Groups choose a goal page based on amount of time given. Use post-its and then share – loose structure. Teachers float. Independent reflection/assessment of work.
Jen – Not started yet – will introduce all strategies and lots of modeling before starting student groups
Meaningful connections – helpful strategies
Helps you understand the story, characters?
Helps you imagine?
Does it lead you to a prediction?
It helped me because…
“rich” “thick-thin”
Connections seem developmental – 2nd grade more text to self, 3rd more text to text, 4th – text to world *So our expectations of the conversations are developmental*
Working together
Observing in each other’s classrooms
Kids working together – 2-4 later in year using rich picture books
Using a grade or two above as a model for introducing discussions
Ideas
“glows” and “grows” – what helps the conversations? What could they do better? (Sarah)
Videos!!!
Cooperative work assessment – pie cart to represent how your group shared the work (Sarah)
* There isn’t just one right way to do student led discussions and approaching it! Reflection of kids developmentally and who we are as teachers! *
Linda Hoyt – Interactive Read-Alouds
Non-fiction vs. fiction? TFK good for nf.
Inference = something from text + prior knowledge
Reflection and assessing on kids’ skills in two areas:
Group skills – these are easier for kids to see and reflect on and monitor progress
Comprehension strategies
Goals – where are we going?
Noting kids changes in thinking because of involvement
How do we know if it is “working” in our class
Our work:
Being thoughtful about implementation
Documenting the process
Assessing
Cooperative work
Discussions building understanding
For next meeting 10/24
Lauren – get discussions started in November – Sarah have a group model in November
By next meeting – have an idea of where we want our kids to be at the end of the year in terms of both cooperative skills and thinking about books
Jen – get Interactive Read-Alouds
Date: 5/16/11
What have we done so far: On April 30, we attended the Action Research Forum at NLU, sponsored by the Center for Practitioner Research. In addition to observing how other teachers have engaged in and shared their research, it also provided the opportunity to reflect upon inquiry projects as a way to empower teachers in making their voices heard in education. We noticed that reliable and valid data collection along with presentation finesse were lacking in many of the sessions, prompting us to attend to these aspects when conducting/presenting our own inquiry findings in the future. We're thrilled to have received our requested curriculum materials for next year, and are beginning to plan out how we will use them to support students in comprehension strategy instruction prior to introducing literature-based discussion.
What we are doing next:
- observe first, second and third grade classrooms to see how the discussions are structured and the developmental arc
- read more about lit-based discussions at the 2nd/3rd grade levels (Jen)
- explore different strategies/structures - more teacher vs. child directed
- follow-up with teachers we observed to discuss our observations
- read and discuss The Comprehension Toolkit (Stephanie Harvey), making plans for how to use this to support our students (summer)
- map out how we are going to introduce them next year (time line, steps) (summer)
- document process we use and try to assess along the way (next year)
- consider the possibility of cross-grade discussions in some form
What we need:
Nothing at this time.
Plans for next year:
See above
Date: 4/25/11
What have we done so far: We looked at Lauren's video and reflected on our own goals and where we are now in the process. We have decided to slightly shift our direction going forward, at least for the start of next year.
What we are doing next: Since we are each going to be with a new group of kids, we thought it made more sense to purposefully set-up lit-based discussions in our classrooms and document the process.
- observe first, second and third grade classrooms to see how the discussions are structured and the developmental arc
- read more about lit-based discussions at the 2nd/3rd grade levels (Jen)
- explore different strategies/structures - more teacher vs. child directed
- follow-up with teachers we observed to discuss our observations
- map out how we are going to introduce them next year (time line, steps) (summer)
- document process we use and try to assess along the way (next year)
- consider the possibility of cross-grade discussions in some form
What we need:
Follow-up on conference reimbursement (we are going this Saturday)
Purchase some books for us to read this summer and use in our classrooms
- Comprehension Tool Kits k-2 and 3-6. Eacg cost $130. Here is the link: http://www.comprehensiontoolkit.com/
Date: 3/28/11
What we have done so far: Lauren observed an 8th grade lit circle and experimented with her observation tool. Jen is doing the same on this Thursday in a 5th grade classroom.
What we are doing next: We are going to continue doing observations and tweaking our data collection tools with the goal of doing some more formal research in our classrooms next year. We also plan to attend the CFPR Forum on April 30th to hear about what other groups are doing.
What we need: $10 each entrance fee for the Forum on the 30th.
Would you like to collaborate with/get support from anyone from NLU? If so, do you have a certain person in mind? What kind of support would you like? We do not feel the need for support at this time but definitely have it in mind as we move farther along.
Inquiry Group Update
Date: 2/28/11
Names: Jen Levy, Lauren Thomas
Primary contact person: Lauren
Statement summarizing focus:
Lit based discussion groups – how and what are kids getting out of it
What we have done so far: · Collected surveys from Baker teachers and started a lit review · Planned a timeline for two year action research project · Drafted potential observation tools for data collection · Contacted teachers to observe lit-based discussions in their classrooms and try out our observation tools
What we are doing next: · Review surveys and set-up observations in classrooms. Review lit review and fill in any holes as needed. · Do observations in classrooms · Fine tune tools for data collection
What we need:
nothing right now!
Inquiry Group Update
Date: 2/28
Names: Jane Stenson
Primary contact person: Jen Levi
Statement summarizing focus: How can the storybox be used to assist comprehension? In the past month I read a dissertation written on the storybox. The teacher was a reading specialist and worked with children who had challenges in comprehension.
What we have done so far: The focus is still on gathering data. The dissertation, use of the storybox in Merle’s room and with Middle School storytellers to help them visualize their story, is data that I have collected. The kindergarten continues to scribe children’s stories monthly.
What we are doing next: The work has been with children. Now it is time to speak with teachers about their perceptions of the storybox as a literacy tool. My questions have been reviewed by our small group; I need to send it out and figure out how to get it filled out and returned!
What we need: This monthly accountability is enough to keep me moving to gather data.
Inquiry Group Update
Date: 1/24/11
Names: Jen Levy, Jane Stenson, Lauren Thomas
Primary contact person: Lauren
Statement summarizing focus:
Jane - Story box- hero and folk tale structure
Jen and Lauren – Lit based discussion groups – how and what are kids getting out of it
What we have done so far:
Jane – collected data from K, 1, 2, 3 and middle school in the form of children’s stories being orally dictated or videotaped.
Jen and Lauren – Collected surveys from Baker teachers and started a lit review
What we are doing next:
Jane – 1) organize data into categories that will be helpful 2) think about questions to ask teachers and children and 3) start documenting actual sessions with the storybox (She will triangulate the data (Immediately she will start by videotaping Merle’s class).
Jen and Lauren – Review surveys and set-up observations in classrooms. Review lit review and fill in any holes as needed.
Together the three of us will talk about our projects, independence, meaningful learning and assessment – how do we know what we know
Discussions on Discussions: Teachers talking to Teachers to Improve Literature Circles
We believe the opportunity to discuss texts improves our students' comprehension and engagement. Well then the same must be true for adults! To improve our understanding and commitment to literature circles we created the opportunity to discuss our practice. Once a month we have met to share our challenges, successes, and "Aha moments". We invite you to join our conversation, share your successes, ask questions, and learn together as a larger group. Whether you have been doing literature circles for a long time or are considering starting them, we would love to have your voice included.
Possible prompts/Jumping off points:
- finding time in curriculum?
- how much teacher input/direction?
- videos - where would you go from here?
- how do you get your own support group?
Tuck Everlasting Literature Circle Discussion
Crash Literature Circle Discussion
Dear The Group,
We liked that you noted our videos and it made us think more about how to use them to forward our study. Please see our notes below for our goals for next meeting.
We appreciate the offer of connecting with an NLU professor but feel comfortable with our group right now.
We appreciate also the offer for additional time and think we will take advantage of that in preparation for the symposium to synthesize our notes and experiences.
Sarah is on the language arts committee! Lauren went to a conference on the Common Core and felt that a lot of what we are doing connects to it! Great!
Thanks!
Jen, Lauren and Sarah
Notes 10/24/11
- Lauren introduced the idea of taking videos of the discussions at different parts of the year as a record of the progress throughout the year. She hopes to do one soon!
- Let's commit to doing the videoing for each other. Shooting for taping by Nov. 11th. Even if it is a lesson related to strategies and not necessarily a student led discussion. It would be a great way to document the process of what is going on in each classroom. Sharing the videos with the kids will bring them more into the process. Write a narrative to accompany the video to describe the point in time.
- Progression in Lauren's room: She has been doing partner discussions - starting with post-its and moving into a more reader response format with small groups reading the same book together - more teacher directed. Would like to move into some kind of fishbowl model to show the less teacher-directed structure.
- Progression in Sarah's room: She went back to using roles to provide some organizational structure. Having something to prepare made them feel calmer before meeting than just post-its. Connection to sportsmanship - they got it! Next step - she is ready to have different books going on. Having more openness on choice of prep - picking a role of their choice to prepare before going to discussion.
- Progression in Jen's room: She is still focusing on decoding skills, attention to punctuation, etc. Not ready to focus heavily on comprehension and student led discussions. Working on social cooperative skills - not necessarily connected to lit discussions.
- The importance of talking with the kids about why we meet in lit circles.
- Symposium idea: Maybe a real visual of the developmental arc - basic - beginning, middle, and end. Have others share their arcs. Also what's working and what's not working.
- For next meeting on 11/28: Have video and narrative set. Also some quotes from kids about whatever stage you are in right now.
Dear The Group,
We liked that you noted our videos and it made us think more about how to use them to forward our study. Please see our notes below for our goals for next meeting.
We appreciate the offer of connecting with an NLU professor but feel comfortable with our group right now.
We appreciate also the offer for additional time and think we will take advantage of that in preparation for the symposium to synthesize our notes and experiences.
Sarah is on the language arts committee! Lauren went to a conference on the Common Core and felt that a lot of what we are doing connects to it! Great!
Thanks!
Dear Lit Based Assessment Group,
We enjoyed reading your wiki and watching the videos. The videos are an informative and useful tool. Hearing kids talk about literature is so exciting and a powerful tool for assessment. Your Wiki updates are such an important record of your work and progress. It sounded like attending the Action Research Forum was useful and affirmed that you are working to collect valid data.
Your acquisition of materials and your entry on 9/30, made us think that a common language across the grades would be helpful. We look forward to you trying and developing these strategies and catch phrases i.e “glows” and “grows” and “thick” “thin” and sharing with us all!
The possibilities are endless for the symposium. Everything you listed seems like a viable and powerful sharing. Of course the videos of students would be totally authentic and useful. A key piece of your work is the developmental arc that you are all working on. That piece will have great impact on our curriculum map and the language arts curriculum review at Baker this year. Are any of you on that committee?
Your work is very interesting and we can’t wait to hear the results. There are some resources we wanted to point out if you haven’t thought about them already. NLU has a fantastic reading and language dept. Camille Blachowicz (retired but friend of Baker), Smokey Daniels or any of Lauren’s professors from her program. Not that you need anyone to legitimize your thinking and work, just having a conversation could make your work richer. Your work makes us think of the title to your new book….”Beyond the Literature Circle Jobs” because you are taking the literature discussion and advancing the process. We get excited thinking about it!
Keep up the great work.
The Group
Inquiry Group Update
Date: 9/30/11 - also see notes below from our work time
Names: Lauren Thomas, Sarah Milo, Jen Levy, Mary McNeal
Primary contact person: Sarah Milo
Statement summarizing focus: We are looking at how we develop, document and assess student led lit discussions.
Where are you individually?
Where are you as a group?
Possibilities for April symposium contribution: Poster session, presentation, workshop, panel, discussion facilitator, show video of classroom/discussion, ask students to participate in panel, show artifacts from class, lead activity. These are some ideas, but remember that there are many other possibilities. Feel free to think outside the box!
Where are you going individually? (Please include initial idea for the symposium in April):
Where are you going as a group? (Please include initial idea for the symposium in April):
Symposium Ideas
- Videos of kids in action
- Poster session of our developmental arc and record of our resources and when we used them
- Sharing our experiencing and hearing from others - group sharing but in structured way - resources, pitfalls, successes, developmental arc, individuality
Student Led Discussions
9/30/11
Date: 5/16/11
What have we done so far: On April 30, we attended the Action Research Forum at NLU, sponsored by the Center for Practitioner Research. In addition to observing how other teachers have engaged in and shared their research, it also provided the opportunity to reflect upon inquiry projects as a way to empower teachers in making their voices heard in education. We noticed that reliable and valid data collection along with presentation finesse were lacking in many of the sessions, prompting us to attend to these aspects when conducting/presenting our own inquiry findings in the future. We're thrilled to have received our requested curriculum materials for next year, and are beginning to plan out how we will use them to support students in comprehension strategy instruction prior to introducing literature-based discussion.
What we are doing next:
- observe first, second and third grade classrooms to see how the discussions are structured and the developmental arc
- read more about lit-based discussions at the 2nd/3rd grade levels (Jen)
- explore different strategies/structures - more teacher vs. child directed
- follow-up with teachers we observed to discuss our observations
- read and discuss The Comprehension Toolkit (Stephanie Harvey), making plans for how to use this to support our students (summer)
- map out how we are going to introduce them next year (time line, steps) (summer)
- document process we use and try to assess along the way (next year)
- consider the possibility of cross-grade discussions in some form
What we need:
Nothing at this time.
Plans for next year:
See above
Date: 4/25/11
What have we done so far: We looked at Lauren's video and reflected on our own goals and where we are now in the process. We have decided to slightly shift our direction going forward, at least for the start of next year.
What we are doing next: Since we are each going to be with a new group of kids, we thought it made more sense to purposefully set-up lit-based discussions in our classrooms and document the process.
- observe first, second and third grade classrooms to see how the discussions are structured and the developmental arc
- read more about lit-based discussions at the 2nd/3rd grade levels (Jen)
- explore different strategies/structures - more teacher vs. child directed
- follow-up with teachers we observed to discuss our observations
- map out how we are going to introduce them next year (time line, steps) (summer)
- document process we use and try to assess along the way (next year)
- consider the possibility of cross-grade discussions in some form
What we need:
Follow-up on conference reimbursement (we are going this Saturday)
Purchase some books for us to read this summer and use in our classrooms
- Comprehension Tool Kits k-2 and 3-6. Eacg cost $130. Here is the link:
http://www.comprehensiontoolkit.com/
Date: 3/28/11
What we have done so far: Lauren observed an 8th grade lit circle and experimented with her observation tool. Jen is doing the same on this Thursday in a 5th grade classroom.
What we are doing next: We are going to continue doing observations and tweaking our data collection tools with the goal of doing some more formal research in our classrooms next year. We also plan to attend the CFPR Forum on April 30th to hear about what other groups are doing.
What we need: $10 each entrance fee for the Forum on the 30th.
Inquiry Group Update
Date: 2/28/11
Names: Jen Levy, Lauren Thomas
Primary contact person: Lauren
Statement summarizing focus:
Lit based discussion groups – how and what are kids getting out of it
What we have done so far:
· Collected surveys from Baker teachers and started a lit review
· Planned a timeline for two year action research project
· Drafted potential observation tools for data collection
· Contacted teachers to observe lit-based discussions in their classrooms and try out our observation tools
What we are doing next:
· Review surveys and set-up observations in classrooms. Review lit review and fill in any holes as needed.
· Do observations in classrooms
· Fine tune tools for data collection
What we need:
nothing right now!
Inquiry Group Update
Date: 2/28
Names: Jane Stenson
Primary contact person: Jen Levi
Statement summarizing focus: How can the storybox be used to assist comprehension? In the past month I read a dissertation written on the storybox. The teacher was a reading specialist and worked with children who had challenges in comprehension.
What we have done so far: The focus is still on gathering data. The dissertation, use of the storybox in Merle’s room and with Middle School storytellers to help them visualize their story, is data that I have collected. The kindergarten continues to scribe children’s stories monthly.
What we are doing next: The work has been with children. Now it is time to speak with teachers about their perceptions of the storybox as a literacy tool. My questions have been reviewed by our small group; I need to send it out and figure out how to get it filled out and returned!
What we need: This monthly accountability is enough to keep me moving to gather data.
Inquiry Group Update
Date: 1/24/11
Names: Jen Levy, Jane Stenson, Lauren Thomas
Primary contact person: Lauren
Statement summarizing focus:
Jane - Story box- hero and folk tale structure
Jen and Lauren – Lit based discussion groups – how and what are kids getting out of it
What we have done so far:
Jane – collected data from K, 1, 2, 3 and middle school in the form of children’s stories being orally dictated or videotaped.
Jen and Lauren – Collected surveys from Baker teachers and started a lit review
What we are doing next:
Jane – 1) organize data into categories that will be helpful 2) think about questions to ask teachers and children and 3) start documenting actual sessions with the storybox (She will triangulate the data (Immediately she will start by videotaping Merle’s class).
Jen and Lauren – Review surveys and set-up observations in classrooms. Review lit review and fill in any holes as needed.
Together the three of us will talk about our projects, independence, meaningful learning and assessment – how do we know what we know
Winter 2010 3rd Grade City of Ember Discussion
Spring 2011 3rd Grade Holes Discussion
November 2011 3rd Grade Partner Discussion
November 2011 3rd Grade Partner Discussion 2